Broader support for global tech confab to benefit business community
The Cebu business community will ultimately benefit from the success of Geeks on a Beach (GOAB), said organizer TechTalks.ph as it calls for broader support and more sponsors for the second edition of the global tech conference which is set in Mactan Island, Cebu this August.
“GOAB is about helping Filipino startups, what we call innovation-driven enterprises (IDE) which are fast becoming the next driver of economic development. Tech startup companies or IDE eventually become successes like Instagram, skype or viber. The event’s success would benefit the entire community,” said TechTalks.ph founder Tina Amper.
“We are inviting the local tech and business sectors to help make this year’s Geeks on a Beach a bigger success as the event’s success would ultimately be to everyone’s advantage,” said Amper.
First held in Boracay in September last year, GOAB gathered all the major players in the Philippine startup scene together with the world’s leading names in the field of startups and technology in a distinct event that combined both work and play.
Amper said that GOAB gives the perfect opportunity for homegrown startups to network with potential investors and business partners who can help fund their concepts.
“The event’s biggest value is networking. GOAB’s relaxed set-up allows anybody from ordinary students to startup founders to investors to reach everybody else in the tech community,” said Amper.
At the same time Amper explained that GOAB provides a venue for the more established businesses to scout for new talents or IT solutions that their companies need.
Gathering close to 300 world-renowned startup founders, tech entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts from 17 countries, last year’s GOAB resulted in many success stories in terms of linking promising startups with investors and companies.
One of the fruits of last year’s event is ZipMatch.com, a real estate property listing site co-founded by Chow Paredes and John Dang, which closed a deal with international investors IMJ Fenox and 500 Startups as well as local funders like IdeaSpace and Hatchd Digital.
According to Amper, in spite of the fact that the local startup community is still in the infancy stage interest is already picking up with more local investors and businesses supporting the sector.
The Cebu Chamber of Commerce of Industry included the fourth Startup Weekend Cebu, a smaller startup event also initiated by TechTalks.ph, in the rosters of activities for last July’s Cebu Business Month celebration.
The Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) also donated P450,000 as support for this year’s GOAB. The office gave P300,000 last year.
This year’s GOAB, planned at a 5-star Resort Hotel in Mactan Island this August 21 and 22, expects to gather around 300 participants including tech and startup personalities from Silicon Valley, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and other places.
Speaking in this year’s event are 500 Startup venture partner Khailee Ng, Dolphin Browser VP of int’l business and dev’t Edith Yeung, e27 co-founder and CEO Mohan Belani, Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Office (DOST-ICTO) deputy executive director Mon Ibrahim, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, and Gwendolyn Regina Tan of TechinAsia.
Also gracing the event are World Startup Report and World Startup Wiki founder Bowei Gai, IdeaSpace President Earl Valencia, Kickstart Ventures President Minette Navarette, Singapore-based IMJ Investment Partners Director Koichi Saito, Amarit Charoenphan of HUBBA Thailand, Richard Min of Fashion Tech Incubator South Korea, and
Kuo-Yi Lim of Monk’s Hill Ventures.
There is ongoing 30% discount until July 20, 2014 with event registration now only P6,900. Included in this registration, participants can avail of P14,000 worth of tech items and services, including a P2,500 discount coupon from Airbnb.com for housing, Microsoft Bizspark / Azure Cloud Credits worth $5,000 for 30 Philippine startups, and web credits and free one month developer support worth $149 from Amazon Web Services.
GOAB is organized by TechTalks.ph, co-presented by the IdeaSpace, SMART, and SMART Bro, co-organized by the DOST-ICTO, powered by Sym.ph, branding by HappyGaraje, and PR and event management by PRWorks.
For more information on registration and accommodations, visit www.geeksonabeach.com, follow them on Twitter and Facebook @geeksonabeach.com, or email hello@geeksonabeach.com.
Media Inquiries:
Doris Isubal-Mongaya
doris.mongaya@prworksph.com
+63917 791 9545
